Ukrainian Holiday

Given what I have written about Ukraine in the preceding few posts one might want to beg the question, as Mike da Hat did, why would I (or you) want to go to Ukraine if its full of bad service, bad food, alcoholics and fag smokers? Ok I admit that this might have seemed a bit negative on my part to mention these things but even though there is some slow or bad service, I was writing about the food from my perspective as a vegetarian, where even here in the UK most of what’s offered in pubs and restaurants can’t be better described than gloopy slop!

At least in Ukraine one doesn’t get offered gloopy slop masquerading as a. Veggie curry, b. some sort of pasta dish covered in some form of cheese flavoured elastic, c. the ubiquitous mushroom risotto, no there is a dearth of vegetarian cuisine in Ukraine, but not I might hasten to add a dearth of vegetable based dishes of which Borsch is the most notable. Plus the food on the whole for the meat eaters looked excellent, especially the Shaslik and the chicken, plus a lot of fish dishes, from both fresh and sea water and the plus side of this it is cheap to eat, I paid for a huge meal for all my family as it was the mother in laws birthday and it cost me only about £50 for 10 of us including drinks and about 4 or 5 courses. (we didn't eat in for the whole of the holiday - my wife refused to cook!)

My problem with the vegetable cuisine on offer in Ukraine was I just didn’t like it; they use some herb (Dill I believe) on quite a lot of their food that I just found unpalatable. I just couldn’t eat it and consequently given that trying to explain that while I wanted the dish I didn’t want the said herb was just too difficult so I usually ended up with chips or omelette and chips or pizza or Borsch as long as it wasn’t made with meat of course, the fact that it also suspiciously looked like the stock had been made from chicken stock I just closed my eyes and taste buds to.

Anyway Ukraine is a wonderful place, lots to see and do. The people are very friendly and welcoming and all this rot about the Mafia and men in black is rubbish. The beer is cheap and the women are extremely beautiful, it’s worth writing that again just for emphasis: The beer is cheap and the women are extremely beautiful – what more can a man ask for?

mmm beer


During the first part of our holiday we went to Lviv which is in the western part of the country and entails an overnight train ride to get there from where our flat is. Lvov is a beautiful Old City in what is known to be the ‘cultural’ part of Ukraine, Lvov used to be the Capital before Kiev became transcendent. We stayed in really nice apartments for I think it was 20 Euro a night and spent two days wandering around seeing the sites etc.

The Opera House Lviv


Old Geezers at Chess


shadows


Later in the month we went to Sevastopol in Crimea. Once again this entailed another overnight train journey enjoying the couchettes. But Sevastopol is a great destination, hot, on the warm black sea. We stayed in what one might call Ukrainian accommodation, $5 per person per night, we had rooms in a Babushkas house looking out onto the garden full of tomatoes and other organic vegetables, and we sat under the grapevines, eating figs off the tree next to us – bliss.

outside our rooms


There is a beach just away from the main part of town called blue lagoon, you can see from the pictures posted that it is beautiful, not too overcrowded with a small bar where you can buy snacks and beer. Plus we went to the aquapark to swim or just promenaded around Sevastopol town enjoying the sites, sitting in cafes, the usual holiday stuff.

Blue Lagoon - Sevastopol


Blue Lagoon



sunset in Sevastopol


We visited the secret nuclear submarine docks in Balaclava and watched a huge sea parade commemorating the Navy, lots of weapons firing, big bangs, smoke, jets, tanks – it was fantastic, then later sitting in a dockside café surrounded by former Soviet sailors singing about how they would never let one foot of the enemy soil the ground of Sevastopol, over their dead bodies – I hesitated to tell them I was English!

Soviet Saliors with the 'enemy' in their midst!



Then later back in Vinnitsa I was taken shooting by a friend. We met up with a Major from the Cobra’s – the anti- terrorist police and taken to their training ground where I fired the Makarov 9mm pistol, another fully automatic Russian pistol and both the 7.62mm Kalashnikov and the 5mm Kalashnikov on their range, I could have fired a Bazooka but we didn’t have the time!

shooting the Makarov


AK47


If you really want an off the beaten track holiday I would recommend Ukraine. Yes there are frustrating and difficult bits about being there, but it’s a wonderful place and I’m not just saying that because I am married to a Ukrainian woman (which I heartily recommend) I’d be happy to help anyone who would wish to travel to Ukraine with all the tips and advice you would need – have a look at my website www.ukraine-4u.com

Ukraine